Observation for October 22nd

Today, October 22^nd, I taught my first lesson for my supervisor! It was a “regular” math class and I taught a review lesson on adding and subtracting integers. The students walked into the classroom and I told them to begin the POD (problem of the day) and hand in the POW (problem of the week). After collecting the POW, we went over the POD. Then I asked the students to take out their homework and we went around the room getting the correct answers. There were one or two students who did not get the right answers and instead of moving to the next student, I asked the students if they could figure out where they mistakes were. The most common mistake was “Keep, Change, Opposite” for subtraction. The students have to know they need to keep the sign of the first term, change the subtraction sign, and then change the sign of the second term to its opposite. After going over the homework, I asked a few students to come to the board and show using the number line or the manipulatives how to add or subtract integers. The students have been doing integers for a few days and were able to quickly do the problems. Then, I passed out the communicators (plastic folders that work like a white board). I then gave the students problems and they had to work out on the communicator and then hold it up so I would be able to see the answers. This is a quick assessment for the teacher to see who understand the lesson and how does not. I was able to see mistakes easily and if more than two or three students got the answer wrong, I would write the problem on the board while explaining my logic, or I would call on a student who got it wrong to work out the problem. This method worked well because I was able to assess the students and correct my lesson as needed. Even though I prepared extra problems, I noticed a few were too easy for the students, so after about 7-8 problems on the communicators, I passed out the review sheet and allowed the students to start it. Letting the students start the review sheet was not in my lesson plan, but the students understood the material and I felt they were able to do the review. I reminded the students they had a quiz for Monday and if they did not finish the review sheet, they had to finish for homework. I felt the lesson went well and the students did not look confused. My supervisor was impressed with how well I knew the students names. I memorized there names the night before! She said my lesson was very good, but I need to watch how often I say “Good job”. She said I was saying “good job” for every student, even if they got the problem wrong. She said I would have said “good try” instead of “good job”. My supervisor thought I was giving too much praise when it was not deserved. After that class, I finished out the day observing. I was able to observe a 7^th grade math class during sixth period. It was an inclusion class, and the teacher’s style was different. She was tougher than my cooperating teacher, and must stricter. She was introducing integers using manipulatives and the Mimio. She used technology and the manipluatives so the students could go up the board. I liked her approach using discovery rather than direct instruction because the students know they understand the concept even if they do not have the rules. This should improve their self-efficacy.

Observation for October 18th

My observation for Monday, October 18 was a half day so all the classes were 29 minutes instead of 42. I was impressed with the amount of work my teacher was able to fit into 29 minutes. She seemed more on task during the half day than on a normal day with more time. I felt she managed her time much better than a normal day. She was more focused and prepared. During 3 and 5^th period (inclusion) the students had to memorize the squares from 1-10 and the cubes from 1-20 because she saw it on the non-calculator portion of a standardized test. She was working on the lesson for about a week and had a quiz on Tuesday. When I watched the review on Monday, I noticed that the students did not memorize the problems and that frustrated my teacher. I told the class that in all my math classes, it would have been much better to know those types of facts than to rely on the calculator. They were surprised and I hope that made an impression on the students to study.

Observation for October 8th

Today, October 8th, while I was observing, I noticed that my teacher is a little disorganized with her lesson. During period two, even though she is in that same classroom and has prep period one, she is still scrambling to get the POD on the board. She does not have a good start of class because when the students walk in, they begin to chit-chat because she is running around trying to get herself organized. During her prep period one, she goes to coffee or talks to other teachers. She does not utilize the 45 minutes before her classes start. So when her class walks in, she is not prepared. The class does not begin smoothly and after about five minutes, she is finally prepared to start. She repeatedly has to tell her students to stop talking but I think that is because she does not start the class structured. Third period there was a fire drill, which always throws off teachers. This was not told to the teacher so she could not adjust her plans. The students were going over a review sheet before their test.

Then her lunch came, and she did not utilize her lunch time either. She goes out for lunch, but instead of coming back early to prepare for her next class, she gets back right before the bell. I like to be early and overly prepared for everything, and to me, this seems cutting it very close. I would get very nervous with little time to prepare for the next class of students. Period five was the same as period three but without the fire drill. My teacher did show me which students were classified in both period three and five classes, and it was not the students I expected. The students that were classified with IEPs or 504s were quieter students, but the ones that I assumed were classified because of their behavior, were not. That surprised me because I would think there would be more issues with the classified students, but she said her problems are with the regular education students in the inclusion classes. She told me she has one ideal special education student in her period five class. He is quiet and just needs a little more explanation or rephrasing. He is the student I would not think was classified. She has 11 out of 18 students that are classified in her period 3 class, and 5 out of 12 in her period five class. That is a large percentage of students that are classified in an inclusion class.

Then we moved to her duty period in the cafeteria. As we were on our duty, a permanent sub began to have a conversation with me. I found out he is a history major, and this is his 3^rd year out of college. He still hasn’t found any job. He has stopped looking for a teacher position. I was also told that there are four history majors as subs in the middle school I observe in, and there is a history teacher going on maternity leave soon. Those four subs are all looking to be picked for a maternity leave sub position. The competition is very difficult for them, and I asked why he did not go back for another certification, and he said that his loans aren’t paid for as is. This is a scary prospect for someone like me because I will be graduating in a few months. The job market is not as lucrative as it used to be.

After duty, 7^th and 8^th period are her advanced classes. Instead of having things prepared before the class comes in (no one else uses her classroom so having things pre-done is not a problem), she is running around trying to find her POD. She forgot to add the problems, so after 7 minutes of the students being confused, she finally realized her mistake. She did not get to the activity she had planned because of her time management. I feel this interferes with the class. Time is difficult because teachers only get 45 minutes, and she is not using her time wisely to optimize the students learning. I feel if she did prep-work in period one for the day, she would be so much better off. She could have to PODs open on the computer, which would save her time trying to find them. She could have her papers organized differently where she can find them – everything is in folders but it is not effective because she can never find what she is looking for in her folder. I feel a binder would help her so much more.

Well that’s all for now, till next time.

Observation from Friday, September 17th

I am in a middle school in my town. I went in and right off the bat, I can tell my teacher is going to be wonderful. I am in an 8^th grade class, but the room looks so bright and decorated I feel that I am in a 5^th grade class. This at first I thought was a little odd, but her classroom felt warming compared to others, and I think that this put the students more at ease. There were messages around the room from students from the year before telling the current students how to succeed in the classroom. Most said “be on time” and “do your homework” which is good advice in general. The room was very colorful also; the teacher had matching tennis balls on every desk so they wouldn’t make noise. But it was not just green tennis balls; they were pink, purple, blue, and red. I thought that was a great idea instead of hearing desks moving, and because my teacher does a lot of group work, she thought it was best. My teacher is also very organized, she had the students put their quizzes in a quiz/test folder and each student has a grade sheet in their binders that they can record their grades on. This is a great idea because the students can then average their own grades, and parents are able to see their grades without calling the teacher. My teacher is very outgoing with the students, and even though it is only the second week of school, she already knows their names and has a friendly joking going on with them. Her classroom atmosphere is friendly and I enjoyed sitting in her classroom. The day went quickly and there were minimal disruptions. The few disruptions she had were from students that called out and were disruptive but after speaking to them, they settled down. I felt her classroom management overall was effective, but there were a few times I noticed she would stop class to address a disruptive student. I am unsure if that was the best course of action, but it is only the first two weeks of school. Overall, I am excited to be in her classes, and I can not wait to see what will happen next time. Middle school keeps you on your toes more than high school!